Google is in troubled waters with the law again. This time around, it is because of the world’s most famous mobile operating system, Android. The European Commission could fine Google up to US$ 11 billion (Rs 73,800 crores) for abusing its dominance via the Android OS. Google was recently sued for £3.2 Billion for secretly tracking and collecting personal information of 4.4 million iPhone users in the UK.

A report by Financial Times claims that EU’s Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager is set to give the verdict “within weeks.” The investigation revealed that Google imposed illegal terms on Android device makers “which harmed competition [...]

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Google Knows When A Stranger Is Looking At Your Phone

A lot of experts are touting machine learning and AI as the 2018 flagship smartphone feature, similar to what thin bezels and tall displays was for 2017. Google has kickstarted the trend of AI with its tight integration of Google Assistant and machine learning in the Pixel 2 smartphones.

Implementing machine learning in day-to-day seemingly trivial situations will be important. That’s where this new software from Google comes into play. If you travel in public transport a lot, you’d be aware of that annoying feeling when you know someone is staring at your phone while you are watching a video or having a private conversation.

This new software can [...]

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The Government Will Soon Ask WhatsApp and Gmail To Store and Share Data

In a move that goes against all norms of public privacy and modern moral sense, the Government of India is making plans to ask intermediary services like Gmail, WhatsApp, Snapchat and even Flipkart and Amazon to not only retain sensitive and private user information but also to share with the Government as per requests raised.

This amendment will be made into the Section 67C of the Information Technology Act of India by a committee that has been working on this for a while. According to this new rule, put initially into motion in 2008, all electronic companies operating in India will require to follow the govt. rules which will spell out what type of data has to be stored, [...]

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WhatsApp Updates Terms of Service, Will Share Your Number with Facebook

WhatsApp has updated its Terms of Service now that the Facebook control is starting to seep through. WhatsApp says it will start sharing the phone numbers of its users with Facebook, its parent company.

You can Opt Out if you do not want this by going to Settings - Account.
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WhatsApp says they want a n easier way for people including businesses to find you. However, there will be no third-party banner ads on WhatsApp nor Spam.

The intention is to charge companies to allow user to make transactions, and get appointment information, things like delivery and shipping notifications, product and service updates, and marketing. Which would [...]

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Apple vs FBI : Federal Court Rules in Favour of Privacy

This are heating up in Apple’s fight with the FBI. On the eve of a Congressional hearing about the Department of Justice’s fight with Apple over unlocking San Bernardino terror suspect’s iPhone, a court in Brooklyn in a separate case has rejected an FBI request to order Apple to unlock the phone of a drug dealer.

The Department of Justice of the United States had first sought access to the phone in the Brooklyn case in October, months before a court in California ordered Apple to help authorities gain access to the phone of a terror suspect.

In stark contradiction to the San Bernardino terror case, Judge James Orenstein has ruled that “he did [...]

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Apple vs FBI : Bill Gates Ditches Apple in the iPhone Encryption Case

As the plot thickens in this complex saga of privacy vs security, Apple has seen a lot of big names put their weight behind its argument but today in a change of trends, one of the biggest names that the tech industry has ever seen has come out surprisingly in open support of the FBI.

Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has backed the Federal Bureau of Investigation in its legal battle against Apple over encryption in an iPhone used by one of the shooters in December’s San Bernardino attacks.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Gates dismissed the notion that Aple’s CEO Tim Cook is propagating that granting the FBI access [...]

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US Dept of Justice Files Motion Forcing Apple to Hack into iPhones

Things are getting ugly between the FBI, and Apple. In latest developments in this ongoing saga, the Department of Justice has gotten itself involved and has filed a motion asking Apple to comply with the FBI order.

Over the last few days, the courts ordered Apple to create a special version of the iOS to access a work iPhone 5c of one of the suspected terrorists involved in the San Bernardino shooting. What ensued then was Apple bringing the debate to the public discourse when its CEO, Tim Cook, wrote a strongly worded open letter to its customers worldwide in which it insinuated that it will not comply with the court’s orders as it will be detrimental to the privacy of [...]

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Tim Cook Refuses to Provide FBI With Specialized Encryption Code

In December, 2015, Calif, San Francisco, became victim of a cold-blooded shooting incident orchestrated by Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik. Fourteen civilians were shot dead before the couple was taken down by the police. It was later confirmed that Rizwan Farook’s phone, an iPhone 5c, was in custody with the authorities.

After two months of failed attempts of unlocking it, the court ordered Apple to provide an encryption code that would take down the security measures of the device. Judge Sheri Pym asked Apple to provide specialized software that would bring down the security, while also getting rid of the feature which erases all data from the phone [...]

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Instagram Adds Two-Factor Authentication to Ensure User Privacy

Privacy scare is high in the virtual space lately and rightly so. Incidents of personality theft and phishing on virtual media platforms are only rising with every passing day. As a result, it’s become imperative for various social media platforms to up their privacy. Having said that, Instagram’s announcement about two-step verification for its users comes less as a surprise and more as a welcome, much-awaited development.

Instead of requiring only the username and password to log in, this two step verification would also require a unique code to log into Instagram. There has to be a verified mobile number mentioned in your account details. When you try to log in, [...]

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New WhatsApp Scam Raises Privacy Scare

As privacy becomes more and more treacherous in virtual space, there is yet another update from the front to make matters worse. WhatsApp has become the target of a scam threatening users’ privacy and their devices with malware.

The new scam tricks users into revealing personal information like passwords and account details. A link comes from what seems to be a friend and when the recipient opens it, they are directed to a website which asks for their private details. Users often find themselves on a discount page asking for log-in ids and passwords.

While this website not only manages to obtain important personal information like passwords, it also infects the [...]

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Facebook Extends Tor Support to Android Facebook App

Facebook has revealed that it’s Android app now offers Tor support to users concerned about keeping their social networking activity private. While this functionality has for some time now allowed Facebook users to directly access its site via Tor’s browser on personal computers, this support for Tor on the Android app will be welcomed by users who majorly use facebook through their phones.

This step is expected to give users a relatively easy way to encrypt their Facebook viewing on the road. The user along with Facebook Android app will need to download the Orbot proxy app to make it work with Tor.

The Tor access support will take some time before all [...]

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This App Blocks Third Parties From Tracking Your Location

There is no denying the omnipresent existence of the Internet in our lives. The virtual trail left behind by a user online has ensured that pretty much all their personal information has been documented in some form or the other in a deep, dark pocket of the Internet.

Checking-ins on social media platforms, booking cabs and taxis, looking for train or plane tickets or simply the nearest cafe to grab a cuppa -all these activities have ensured that that details about our location and day to day activities are on public display all the time, leaving us vulnerable and unprotected.

However, not all is lost. A university in the US has developed an app which ensures that [...]